Two months after legislators approved the creation of a commission to study EBT card fraud, the group has begun working to find ways to curtail abuse of the benefits assistance program.

“Most people aren’t abusing these benefits, but we need to find a way to stop people that are,” said state Rep. Shaunna O’Connell, R-Taunton.

O’Connell sponsored legislation last year to prohibit Electronic Benefits Transfer recipients from using the assistance funding to buy alcohol, cigarettes and lottery tickets. Such a regulations, however, is difficult to enforce.

The federal cash assistance program, which is administered by individual states, provides money on a monthly basis to eligible recipients depending on factors such as income and family size. The funds for each recipient are stored on an EBT card, which functions like a debit card. Formerly called the Food Stamps Program, the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) also uses EBT cards to distribute benefits.

Since an EBT card can be used to withdraw cash from an ATM, O’Connell said it is difficult to track fraudulent use.

“Everyone seems to be very concerned about trying to limit cash access,” she said. “We learned 85 percent of all transactions are cash. We have no way of knowing where they’re spending it, or what they’re spending it on.”

A spokeswoman from the state Department of Health and Human Services said the Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration has taken steps recently to reduce abuse of Department of Transitional Assistance programs.

“The Administration takes any abuse of DTA programs very seriously, and will continue to enhance its internal controls,” spokeswoman Paulette Song said in a statement. “To address this issue, DTA has taken a number of actions over the past years, including the creation of a Program Integrity Division, which integrates a number of critical agency functions to comprehensively address fraud prevention and program integrity.”

In 2010 alone, she said, the DTA recovered more than $4.5 million in repayments from current and former clients resulting from intentional and unintentional violations.

When the law making it illegal to use EBT cards to purchase alcohol, tobacco and lottery tickets was passed last summer, some welfare advocates said the legislation stigmatizes the poor.

“I think nothing could be further form the truth,” O’Connell said. “I think what stigmatizes these benefits is the abuse and fraud that goes on.”

The special commission has met twice this month. After O’Connell complained earlier this month that Patrick hadn’t yet made his appointment to the commission, the governor selected Priscilla Holmes, the deputy director of the Worcester Community Action Council.

Other committee members include DTA Commissioner Dan Curley; Inspector General Gregory Sullivan; state Sen. Jen Flanagan; state Rep. Russell Holmes; William Rennie of the Massachusetts Retailers Association; and state Sen. Robert Hedlund.

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The commission will discuss potential reforms, then prepare a report listing a series of recommendations later this year.